Maybe it’s because our pals from SoCal are getting used to the idea that there’s snow, finally, but occupancy projections still show a downturn from last year.

The hospitality crowd expects the town will fill to 54 percent this weekend. Last year during the same time, Mammoth filled to 64 percent.

For the weekdays ahead, the town expects a 27 occupancy rate. It was at 35 percent last year.

Happy Australia Day!

To all our Aussie friends—and there are many in Mammoth—Happy Australia Day!

The tradition of having Australia Day as a national holiday on Jan. 26 is a recent one. Not until 1935 did all the Australian states and territories use that name to mark that date. Not until 1994 did they begin to celebrate Australia Day consistently as a public holiday on that date.

Half Dome Trail under scrutiny

Yosemite National Park this week announced the availability of the Half Dome Trail Stewardship Plan Draft Environmental Assessment for public review. Public comments on the plan will be accepted through Thursday, March 15.

The Half Dome Trail Stewardship Plan was developed to address crowded conditions, visitor experience, and safety on the Half Dome Trail and encompasses the two-mile section from the John Muir Trail to the summit of Half Dome.

Twenty-four years of jazz

The Mammoth Jazz Jubilee enters its 24th event this season July 11 to 15, organizers Ken and Flossie Coulter announced.

Along with returning musicians Temple of Folly with Yve Evans, Tom Rigney and Flambeau, Tom Hook will bring a quartet. Bill Allred, Blue Street, Gator Beat, Ivory and Gold, Titan Hot 7, Midiri Brothers Sextet, the Professors and the Jazz Camp Youth Band are on the marquee, just to name a few of the bands that play a wide variety of jazz styles.

Obviously there will be more to come on the jubilee as we slip closer and closer to July.

Chamber Music Unbound presents ‘Truly, Madly, Deeply’

Chamber Music Unbound presents the fourth program of 2011-12 winter season, entitled “Truly, Madly, Deeply.” The Felici Piano Trio teams-up with the dynamic husband-wife duo, Tereza Stanislav and Rob Brophy, to perform music spanning over 200 years, with the ultra-romantic “Piano Quintet” by Sir Edward Elgar as the center-point.

The concert will take place Jan. 28 at Cerro Coso College in Mammoth, starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available online at www.ChamberMusicUnbound.org, at Access Art & Business Center, The Inyo Council for the Arts or at the door on concert nights: $25/adult, $17/senior and $7/student.

Coleville, Lee Vining high school to participate in Mock Trial

The Mono County Office of Education is facilitating a countywide 9-12 grade Mock Trial event at the Bridgeport Courthouse. All schools in the county (Eastern Sierra Unified, Mammoth Unified and Mono County Office of Education) are invited to participate Feb. 2 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The two participating teams include Coleville High School and Lee Vining High School.

This event is open to the public. For more information, call Tammy Nguyen or Debie Schnadt at the Mono County Office of Education at (760) 934-0031.

‘Winter Warm-Ups’ Competition Jan. 28

The Mono County Office of Education is facilitating a countywide 6-8 grade MATHCOUNTS “Winter Warm-Ups” Competition. All schools in the county (Eastern Sierra Unified, Mammoth Unified and Mono County Office of Education) are invited to participate. The event will be held at the Bridgeport Elementary School on Jan. 28. This year, Antelope Elementary, Bridgeport Elementary and Lee Vining Elementary are each sending a team to compete in this event. The “Winter Warm Ups” competition will begin at 9 a.m. and is expected to run until about noon.

This event is open to the public. For more information, call Tammy Nguyen or Debie Schnadt at the Mono County Office of Education at (760) 934-0031